But then again some of the more lighthearted touches in Empire are pure Lucas, he is the one who came up with Yoda and his fairy tale like silliness, to really being a stern old Jedi.
He came up with the genius idea of making Vader Luke's Father, got to give the man respect for that.
Other things like his bad dialog for the carbon freeze scene that Harrison changed on set, can be forgiven since Kersh allowed him to change it.